The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The royal courtiers representing the king's authority arrived, led by three generals: the red priest Thoros; the King's Justice, Ilyn Payne; and the Hound, Sandor Clegane. Behind them were thirty imposing gold cloaks.

Behind the thirty gold cloaks were over a thousand Riverrun garrison soldiers and ducal guards. This force also included Riverlands nobles and their guards. The remaining twenty thousand soldiers had returned to their territories following Duke Hoster's orders.

To avoid a violent clash between the Riverlands nobles, the city garrison soldiers, and the Mountain's men, Duke Hoster ordered that the Riverrun garrison and ducal guards would only return to the city after the Mountain and his brothers had left Riverrun.

Taking advantage of the king's authority, the thousand-strong Riverrun garrison and the Riverlands nobles had all come forward.

With the king's decree of condemnation, the garrison and nobles no longer feared the Mountain!

Edmure stood beside the Mountain.

Edmure said, "Mountain, take your brothers and go ahead, take the waterway directly to the west bank of the Red Fork, avoiding the king's generals and the Riverrun garrison. I bet they think you're holding me hostage. If I go with you, they'll definitely cross the river to chase us. With the king's generals backing them, they won't have any reservations. I'll cross the river here to the south bank, and I'll explain things to them."

"No!" the Mountain said, "I'll go with you!"

Edmure stared at the Mountain: "Mountain, are you sure? You plundered a thousand warhorses and thirteen thousand gold dragons from Riverrun. The soldiers all resent you. With the king's generals here, words could easily lead to conflict!"

"I'll go with you!" The Mountain said calmly, "If the red priest Thoros is trustworthy, I'll entrust him with your letter of apology and the letter informing the king of the gift of a thousand warhorses."

Edmure's face flushed red!

The Mountain led his brothers and Ser Edmure onto the boat and headed for the opposite bank.

In full view of everyone, the Mountain could not avoid the king's generals by fleeing to the west bank of the Red Fork. That would damage his reputation for bravery. In his brothers' hearts, he was unmatched. A man could be defeated, but he could not run away out of fear, and he could not yield because he was outnumbered!

The Mountain feared nothing!

The Mountain was unmatched!

The Mountain never yielded!

These were things that could not be tainted in the Mountain's honor.

Edmure did not understand the Mountain's insistence, but the Mountain himself understood it perfectly well.

He was the spiritual leader of the Clegane cavalry, the spiritual king of the Lannisport Swords mercenary company, and the core spiritual strength of the Westerling Crag army.

The Mountain stood at the bow of the boat, standing with Edmure, but the boorish Edmure was simply too insignificant in comparison to his stature—his presence was so low, like an underage child.

The red priest Thoros's courage was famous throughout the Seven Kingdoms. In the Greyjoy Rebellion nine years ago, he was the first to scale the treacherous walls of Pyke, killing countless Ironborn warriors and opening the first crucial breach for the king's army to storm the castle. He became famous in that battle. His bravery was as famous as his flaming sword.

This royal army squad was led by Thoros, with the King's Justice, Ilyn Payne, and the Hound, Sandor Clegane, as his deputies.

Before the boat could dock, while still over two zhang away, the Mountain leaped ashore, landing like a giant rock, creating a booming sound, the ground slightly dented, causing fear in each of the thousand-odd soldiers.

The Mountain's face was gloomy as he gripped the hilt of the greatsword behind his shoulder, and said in a deep voice, "Thoros, are you here to take me to the king for judgment? Or are you here to investigate the truth and administer justice impartially?"

The Mountain's action of gripping the greatsword hilt and his aggressive questioning were extremely threatening!

Thoros was furious and shouted, "Mountain, your evil reputation has spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms. You have always been a wicked evildoer, unrepentant. This time, you used trickery to break the city and used force to coerce Duke Hoster and Lord Edmure. I am now here on the orders of King Robert to bring you to justice."

Clang!

The Mountain's greatsword was drawn, and he shouted, "You convict me before investigating, you insult the king's honor and the fairness of the law. Since you're just a bastard, then draw your sword!"

Swish!

Thoros's longsword was drawn!

"Drive!" He shouted, squeezing his legs, and charged towards the Mountain.

"Be careful!" the Hound shouted, immediately spurring his warhorse and attacking the Mountain from the left.

The King's Justice, Ilyn Payne, who had lost his tongue, had long drawn his greatsword and kicked his spurs, fiercely attacking the Mountain from the right.

In an instant, three warhorses galloped, longswords raised high, almost simultaneously charging towards the Mountain, who had his back to the Red Fork.

"Ho! Ho ho ho!" Behind them, thousands of soldiers and dozens of knights shouted loudly, cheering for the three royal generals.

They all hoped that the three fierce generals would defeat the Mountain in one fell swoop.

In the Red Fork, the boatmen were too frightened to dock.

On the boat, Edmure and the Mountain's brothers shouted together, "Stop!"

The turbulent waters of the Red Fork and the shouts of thousands of soldiers and knights shattered the shouts from the boat.

No one cared what the people on the boat were shouting.

Edmure was among the Clegane bandits, he was being held hostage. No one believed Edmure was shouting to stop, if he was, it was under duress!

The Mountain was under attack from three sides, and all three enemies were skilled swordsmen. The weakest of them was Ilyn Payne on the right, but his arm strength and greatsword were the strongest of the three.

Furthermore, Ilyn Payne had always wanted to kill the Mountain. It was hard to say exactly why. The Mountain and he were both Westermen, both loyal subjects of Duke Tywin, but he especially wanted to cut off the Mountain's head.

Ilyn Payne was a skilled rider, and his warhorse was also well-trained. Suddenly, he had rushed ahead a bit. He was using a two-handed greatsword, carrying the impact force of the warhorse, gripping the sword with both hands, and fiercely hacking at the Mountain's head.

The Mountain's greatsword was longer than Ilyn Payne's greatsword, but the speed of Ilyn Payne's warhorse charge had made up for the lack of length of the greatsword.

The speed was too fast. Although the sword was a little shorter, it was in front of him in the blink of an eye.

The walls of Riverrun, as if in an instant, were filled with people from all over the city, who shouted together with the thousand-odd soldiers on the opposite bank: Kill the Mountain!

The Mountain moved, not using the greatsword in his hand to block Ilyn Payne's fierce attack. The combined power of the warhorse's charge and Ilyn Payne's fierce hacking could be blocked by the Mountain, and Ilyn Payne could be seriously injured, but Thoros's sword in the middle was also raised. He was only a horse's head behind Ilyn Payne. This distance didn't even take the blink of an eye, and it arrived in an instant.

The two men were almost simultaneous.

Bang!

Thoros's longsword burst into fierce flames, the fire burning fiercely, the light dazzlingly blinding, the longsword drawing a circle, like a shining sun, the heat steaming and pressing.

The flaming sword fiercely slashed at the Mountain's chest, and the warhorse also crashed fiercely into the Mountain's massive body.

The Hound on the left was using a longsword when charging, but when he reached the Mountain, he had somehow switched to a lance. Presumably, the lance was hanging on the side of his horse.

In the last duel, the Mountain told the Hound to use a lance to thrust straight, and with the Hound's strength, he could break through the Mountain's two layers of armor.

This time, the Hound actually used a lance, and the lance was hanging on the right side of the horse, shielded by the horse's body, very hidden, not allowing the Mountain to see it easily.

The Hound's lance shook straight, fiercely stabbing at the chest, wanting to break through the Mountain's armor and seriously injure him!